The Far Wanderer's page

I'm still standing better than I ever did. Looking like a true survivor, feeling like a little kid.

More money, no PDF?

Not cool.

Hi. Can this order be cancelled please. Thanks.

This was over 4 years old, and 3 years since anyone posted in it. :)

I know. I've been waiting patiently...

Just found this thread. Here's my $0.02.

The rules are clear: 'At 1st level, wizards form a powerful bond with an object or a creature...'

Boom, there you have it. Choose one.

However, for those of us who remember the old days, the Familiar description in 3.5 was 'A wizard can obtain a familiar'. Back in 3.5 there was a monetary and XP cost, so it was optional.

Not any more.

Don't get me wrong, there are very compelling mechanical reasons to find benefits in the two options that Arcane Bond gives you.

But do I want Fluffy the Cat following me around, metagamingly providing me with the Alertness feat and a decent skill bonus? Witches and familiars I get, but wizards? No, not for me. It's too Philip Pullman.

Or trading a free spell for the magical equivalent of a hostage to fortune?

It's all about flavour for me. And neither of these options feels... right. I want to play a wizard who doesn't like animals and isn't Harry Potter.

Ah, you might say, Arcane Bond is a class feature, you can't change those, but if there's one thing that having every Paizo Pathfinder book has told me it's that you can change loads of other class features.

So where are the options for substituting this particular one?

Thanks Anthony.

There's some really great stuff in that list.

I'd be very interested in knowing what was actually entered, because the resulting nominations are, if I'm honest, pretty astonishing:

Nothing in Best Adventure? Seriously? I mean, seriously, are you kidding me? That's what Paizo does. Paizo *owns* best adventures. That's like Ferrari not getting into the Top 5 Sports car table.

Nothing in Best Game?

Nothing in Best Setting? By now this has gone from ridiculous to absurd.

Nothing in Best Supplement?

Nothing in Best Writing?

Maybe it's a joke. Very funny, Ennies.

Very funny.

Am I the only person who looked at this year's shortlisted products and felt... well massively disappointed?

I mean, why isn't Crystal Frazier's module The Harrowing in there? It's probably the best module I've read in years...

I've a question about Boots of Escape (p38):

I can't help but compare these with Dimension Stride Boots out of the 3.5 Magic Item Compendium which, at 2000gp to purchase, came I'm significantly cheaper than the aforementioned Boots of Escape at 8000gp and which allowed the user to teleport multiple times a day and without regard to a particular contingency, unlike the Boots of Escape.

So, here's the thing - are the old Dimension Stride boots hideously broken? Because as I read the Boots of Escape entry I can't help but think they're incredibly pricy for what they do.

Unless... the person grappled etc while wearing them can transfer himself to any spot as an immediate action, rather than having to expend a standard action, as per usual magic item activation. Then they become useful and worth the cash...

?

what was that base class, you know, the 'do everything' one from Dungeonscape?

Factotum.

Awesome quarterstaff - WAR can do no wrong. Damn this looks good.

Love the box, but the magic staves in the GM book are confusing.

4500gp for a Staff of Scorching is amazing... and conflicts with the costs for Staff creation in the Core book.

Deliberate to give new wizard players a nice staff, or a PF rule change so finally wizards under 10th level can afford one?

The Far Wanderer wrote:

Oh and I can't help but feel this book really, really, really should have been called 'The Art of WAR'...?

Turns out some guy named Sun Tzu beat us to the punch. (Marketing the book would have been an issue too, as "The Art of WAR" conjures up something else entirely.)

:-)

Erik Mona wrote:

It repeats the core rulebook stuff, but a lot of it has been rearranged by magic item "slot." We agonized over this, but eventually sided with making this book a more useful reference by including pretty much everything.

I'm glad you did; in fact, I wouldn't mind if you had repeated most of the stuff (mundane and magical) from AA and APG as well. Sometimes it's a serious pain to equip mid/high level PCs and NPCs with three books open on the table...

I totally appreciate the convenience factor of bringing together already-seen material from other Paizo products. But speaking as someone who already has all the other Paizo products I can't understate how much I hope that 'tons and tons of new items' translates into at least 25% of the book.

From a customer perspective, what I'd like to pay for is clean desktop wallpaper images of many of Wayne's wonderful illustrations.

But I can't actually buy them, as the only way to get any of his art is to buy physical prints.

So if I have to buy a hardcover book to get those files digitally as a bonus pdf then hell yeah, I'd be very happy to do so.

Because given the choice as to whether I'd want to pay money for a book of art, or have the art itself, I know what I'd chose.

Oh and I can't help but feel this book really, really, really should have been called 'The Art of WAR'...?

Ezren appears to use a hanbo ("a staff less than a yard long, often carved to look like a walking stick"), even though he was always statted as having a club.

So are wizards proficient in the hanbo or is this an art directional coincidence?

Books are VAT exempt, so book only Paizo orders are fine on the way through customs. But, if a shipment contains any games or other 'non book' materials then you become liable for VAT on the value of the whole package.

Yeah this is the first time it's happened so I've learned the hard way not to buy any non-books from paizo now.

It's not so much the VAT that's galling, it's the fact that parcel force can hold you to ransom with a fine that you can't contest.

Does anyone know if there has been any progress on this issue?

I have an open support case with Apple over it.
I installed acrobat, but it really sucks: it doesn't remember view settings, it doesn't support full screen (which I need on my tiny 13" Air), the UI is not intuitive.

I found a work around which seems to solve the problem:

Right click on Preview in the Applications folder then click on Get Info.

Click in the tick box for 'Open in 32-bit mode'.

And that's it. Solved the problem for me...

I just got a letter from Parcel Force asking for £11.75 to deliver my copy of the Beginner Box - £3.75 VAT + £8 'Clearance Fee'.

Anyone else affected or did I get unlucky with Customs?

Apple just released the 10.7.1 update. Does that fix the preview PDF issue?

I'm holding off installing LION until these first few jitters are ironed out.

No, it doesn't. I installed it last night to no avail. My local Apple Store were sympathetic when I took my MacBook Pro in this morning but could do nothing - it's definitely a Lion issue.

I'd suggest avoiding Lion for the foreseeable (don't worry, there's nothing amazing about it really. Snow Leopard was a better upgrade than Lion is).

Looks like Apple is having its Windows Vista moment after all...

Unseelie wrote:

Cool, thanks guys. This is more than a sufficient sample, and I have a number of the same PDFs. I'll see what I can do about finding a solid repro case and make sure it's logged if it's not already.

Of course, once I do so, I won't be able to say much more after that... :-/

I really appreciate your help!

As do I. Thanks.

Just tried an experiment - opened up half a dozen Green Ronin pdfs and Preview behaved normally.

Then opened the Gamemastery Guide, tried to navigate through some page selections and boom, spinning colour ball. Tried to force Preview to quit but I can't get the force quit window open. Meanwhile the computer's heat spikes - we're talking 0-60 in ten seconds here, with the fan coming on in a valiant attempt to cool it down. I had to hold down the 'power on' button to force the machine to shut down.

Maybe it's a generic problem with Preview - maybe the GMG is just a large PDF, but thus far the only pdfs that are crashing my machine like this are Paizo ones.

Sorry guys but does anyone have a clue what's going on?

A Star Wars Adventure Path would be so utterly awesome that I can't even finish this sen

The Far Wanderer wrote:

...causing my Mac to overheat...

Are you being literal there?

Yes, the machine starts to run really hot. If you have a look at the Apple boards it's happening to lots of people. My laptop can no longer be run on my lap.

Preview is definitely the source of the problem, which is a shame as it's visually nicer to look at docs than in Reader.

The Far Wanderer wrote:

Blowing my mind... causing my Mac to overheat... making me wish I hadn't paid for software this bad...

I'm sure in a month or two Lion will be amazing but I've learned my lesson with both Apple AND Microsoft. Never buy the first iteration of any new software produced by them.

I leave that to you lot to finish the beta testing and go through the headaches. ;-)

Indeed. This is the first (and last) time I'm an early adopter (though I'm still happy to be a charter superscriber here).

Blowing my mind... causing my Mac to overheat... making me wish I hadn't paid for software this bad...

I was looking at Ultimate Combat, with Thumbnails on the left hand side. I actually had a full system freeze last night, forcing a restart so there's definitely something weird going on.

I'm using a 2010 15 inch MacBook Pro 2.4 Ghz Intel Core i5, with 4GB 1067 Mhz DDR3.

Regardless of your Mac OS version, I'd strongly recommend you use Adobe Reader to view PDFs. Among other things, Preview doesn't support the interactive features we've begun to add to our maps starting with the first volume of Jade Regent.

Thanks Vic. As a Mac user I tend to steer clear of Adobe products, as they tend to be a bit... crashy, but for the sake of interactive goodies I'll give Reader a go. Does Reader work on iPad though?

On the plus side, Preview now displays the capital A in sub-heads...

Anyone else seeing Preview crash continuously when viewing Paizo PDFs?

BONUS TRIVIA: The cover to Dungeon #119 was the first cover I ever ordered for any RPG product. I'm...

Ah ha. Thanks James. That cover remains not only my favourite WAR art but my favourite RPG character study, period.

I've always been bemused by Ioun stones that give stat increases, especially as they don't stack.

I assume the cost thing is offsetting the fact that a character can use the headband or belt slot for something else?

+1 to a ROTR hardcover.

Awesome idea.

Still no email... :-(

Maybe they forgot.

Oh well.

The Far Wanderer wrote:

it's time for wizards to get some love... :-)

What.

Universalist wizards don't get any love til Metamagic Mastery shows up.

I'll argue the "plenty to spare" part of feats for wizards. I find that if you want to survive and not have situations where you suddenly completely suck you need feats like defensive combat training and combat casting. Great Fortitude is never a bad choice, and then if you are using spells with save throws spell focus/greater spell focus become more needed as does persistent spell (and bouncing spell). Spell Penetration and greater spell penetration are always good ones to have... as is eschew materials (for grappled casting) among others...

I'd add Improved Initiative to the list of wizard feat pre-reqs. Getting to act before the BBEG does is what keeps wise wizards alive.

Fast Study is indeed very, very useful but hey, it's time for wizards to get some love... :-)

The Far Wanderer wrote:

Does the tax collector get burned in a wicker man?...

No. Not really.

Of course, "The Wicker Man" was one of the big inspirations for this adventure. "Feast of Ravenmoor" is actually based on a short story I wrote many years ago that I've been wanting to turn into an adventure for almost as many years—it's why I put Ravenmoor into Varisia in the first place back at the start of it all. And while that story was partially inspired by "The Wicker Man," it was also inspired by Lovecraft, by Stephen King's "Children of the Corn," and by all the creepy old shacks in the woods I've seen in my life.

I can't wait to see what Brandon does with the concept, in any event! :-)

Cool. Thanks James.

Does the tax collector get burned in a wicker man?...

Any chance we could see a wizard archetype that replaces the familiar / bonded object option?

Wording pretty clear in my opinion. If the intention was to restrict to two skills of the same attribute, it would have been worded "Two Int skills, two wis skills, or two Cha skills." instead of "Two Int, Wis or Cha skills".

And if your GM is being a d-bag, shoot for Additional Traits instead, and grab two traits that grants you the desired skills as class skills.

Yes, that would have been more conclusive wording but sometimes things just aren't as clear as you'd like.

Additional Traits has been a favourite from the get-go, though not all skills are available through traits.

I only post if I am sure, but I have been wrong before. I am pretty confidant with this one.

I only ask because of the Hermean Blood feat from the Inner Sea World Guide. Its wording is a bit more explicit but it limits the skills chosen to the same ability. True, that can be any ability rather than the mental ones, but Cosmopolitan (which also gives you the two extra languages) is by comparison a very useful little feat...

The Far Wanderer wrote:

Does this feat (APG, page 156) mean you gain either two INT skills, or two CHA skills or two WIS skills?

Or does it mean you gain two skills as long as they're INT, CHA or WIS-based?

ie can you select Heal and Bluff, for example?

The second one.

Are you sure? :-)

Does this feat (APG, page 156) mean you gain either two INT skills, or two CHA skills or two WIS skills?

Or does it mean you gain two skills as long as they're INT, CHA or WIS-based?

ie can you select Heal and Bluff, for example?

Soon, my sweets. Soon.

See, that's what I love about Paizo. It's a community. A genuine, bona fide community. The kind of community that brands like Coca-Cola and Ford would give *anything* to have.

So Erik and the gang, please don't ever change.

:-)

Whisper of Nethys;
Aura faint divination; CL 3rd; Slot ––;
Price 1000 gp; Weight –– lbs.;
Description;
First crafted by a cleric of Nethys frustrated that she never seemed to have the right spells prepared whilst adventuring, this simple silver earring is a boon for all spellcasters who pray for, or prepare their spells in advance.

If worn while a spellcaster is preparing her spells for the day, the Whisper of Nethys mentally prompts her to prepare a particular spell that it will be beneficial to have ready in the day ahead. Only one spell is suggested and there is nothing to prevent the spellcaster using the spell before the moment when it might actually be most useful. For wizards the spell prompted will be one that is actually in the wizard’s spellbook.

Some wearers of this item claim to hear a male voice whispering the name of the spell they should prepare, but whether the god himself would be so generous with his time is doubtful. Its usefulness means that wizards and clerics who do not worship Nethys are still happy to make use of it, invariably renaming it after the deity they venerate.

Construction;
Requirements Craft Wondrous Item, augury; Cost 500 gp

Awesome cover art folks. Bravo.

Awesome cover art folks. Bravo.

wraithstrike wrote:

Will this book have class variant features like the old one. The fighter getting 4 skills was nice. I don't know if giving up one feat to get it was enough though. I would have given up my first two bonus feats for more skill, if perception was one of them.

Nope; the idea of class variants is now more than adequately covered by our other books. In fact, the section about the classes in the revised book is down to two pages that gives each of the 18 base classes about a paragraph of information about how those classes fit into the world.

For class variant stuff, you'll want to check out the Archetypes in the Advanced Player's Guide. We'll certainly be doing more archetypes in other books as well, including ones in the Campaign Setting line. There are no archetypes in this book, though... only feats, spells, magic items, artifacts, prestige classes, equipment, and monsters.

Does this mean that class variants that didn't make it into the APG are gone, like the Wizard's Arcane Duellist option for example?

I'm going to ask the question, as I think the emperor's not wearing any clothes:

Why bother with the Words of Power system at all?

I mean, we all love Vancian spellcasting, right?

The Ultimate Magic book only has 100 new spells - not very ultimate given that the 3.5 Spell Compendium had what, 1000?

I'd rather trade in what could be argued to be an unnecessary new spellcasting system and get the extra spells.

Am I alone in wondering why on earth precious Paizo time is being spent on this?

Why Pathfinder?

Paizo.

A company run by fans of the game, for fans of the game.

A company that doesn't just sell product to customers, it creates cool stuff through dialogue.

A company that gets where the game came from and honors its tradition.

It's why I'm a charter superscriber.

If you're using 3.5 rules, the spell Force Chest from the Spell Compendium is useful in protecting a spellbook from just about everything.

4th level spell though...

No, I reckon a 1st level spell should be able to do the trick.